They're getting closer, and at Saturday's New Prairie Regional, close was
good enough for the Chesterton boys cross country team to extend its season
at least one more race.

The Trojans scored 106 points, placing fourth in the 10-team field and
earning a berth in Saturday's New Prairie Semistate. Valparaiso ran away
with the title, posting a 28, just a few points off the all-time regional
low. LaPorte (85) nipped Portage (89) for second, with Wheeler (110) getting
the final qualifying spot.

"We have to keep it in perspective. We get to run another week," Chesterton
coach Tim Ray said. "We've been talking the whole post-season. We have to
put one solid race together, all five guys. We still haven't done that yet.
The closest we've come is four out of seven. We had four kids run a really
solid race, so at least we're taking steps in the right direction. Now we
have to take a big step next weekend."

Kevin Kenney placed seventh in 16:05.8, a three-second personal best, to
lead Chesterton. He was the only Trojan in the top 15, though Mitch Wilborn
(16th, 16:31.6) narrowly missed, continuing to improve with his own personal
best by 20 seconds.

"Kevin's not a 15:45 guy. He's got to run his race, make sure he's where he
needs to be," Ray said.

After Wilborn, there was a gap to Andrew Kearney, 30th in 17:13.4, who came
in just ahead of Alex Genetski (32nd, 17:17.4) and Evan Mazurkiewicz (34th,
17:20.1). Genetski's time was a personal best by 15 seconds. Freshman Emmitt
Sullivan (40th, 17:32.7) shaved 20 seconds off his prior fastest time. Tyler
Vore (56th, 18:55.8) also ran.

"We had a couple guys who struggled a little bit, but we had a couple who
picked it up," Ray said. "We had a lot of guys with PRs. It's like a puzzle
that doesn’t all fit. We've got four pieces that fit, but three that aren't
there yet. If we can do that, we'll be in good position going into (semistate).
In years past, that's what it takes at this level, when you get to the
semistate. You have to run good. You don't have to run great. That'll give
you a chance, which is all you want."

Valpo's Peyton Reed was the race winner in a meet-record time of 15:37. The
Vikings placed all seven runners in the top 13 to repeat as champion.